1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to polygonal bodies consisting of plastics soft foam (for example, polyether with a density between 15 and 40 kg per m.sup.3), a multitude of such bodies serving for use as filling material for cushions, upholstery, pillows or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Manufacturers have for a long time endeavoured to replace conventional pillow fillings consisting of natural materials, namely feathers or downs, by synthetic materials in order thereby to render the filled articles less sensitive to moisture, provide better disinfecting and cleaning properties, increase durability, and reduce production costs.
This endeavour has not in the past been successful. Although the cleaning properties were indeed improved by synthetic materials,, the manufacturing costs could not be substantially reduced and, on the other hand, if it was possible to reduce the manufacturing costs, the behavior of the synthetic filling material by no means corresponded to that of natural filling material.
Thus, staple-fibre nonwoven fabrics and continuous-fibre nonwoven fabrics have been used and whilst they improve washability and cleanability they cannot for example be loosened by shaking up, as is possible and necessary in the case of feather pillows in the bedding sector.
In the upholstery sector, entirely synthetic nonwoven fabrics have likewise been tried which, if the necessary strength of resilience or padding is to be achieved, must be used in such amounts that the use is uneconomic, and with which on the other hand the desired relaxing behavior of the cushions cannot be achieved.
The use of cushioning bodies of plastics foam, and which are of short tubular hollow form, is known. These hollow bodies fulfil a part of what is required of the synthetic materials but have the disadvantage that they do not show the behavior resembling feathers or downs, so that such cushioning bodies cannot be used for certain applications.
The use of foam scrap which is torn up into flocks in flock mills and then used as filling is also known. Such flocks have the disadvantage that the filling, by reason of the cell destruction occurring in the edge zone of the flocks, becomes lumpy, i.e. the individual flocks hook on to one another and, after having been in use for a short time, constitute a firmly cohering body which cannot be loosened by shaking up and which does not possess the necessary recovery properties after use.
These disadvantages have been recognized and attempts have been made, by means of so-called "spaghetti" foam strips, to avoid the disadvantages of flocked foam. Such foam coils or foam spaghetti have the disadvantage that they become entangled with one another and, hence, likewise do not possess the necessary property of being able to be loosened by being shaken up. Again, this leads to the formation of lumps or the like inside the pillow and, accordingly, the requirement of such applications are not met.
Thus there has remained the problem of providing a synthetic body which -- produced from foam -- is suitable for serving, both in the bedding sector and in the upholstery sector, as filling for pillows or cushions and which, in its behavior, approximates more closely to the behavior of natural materials such as downs or feathers.